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Involvement of Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors in Controlling Chlamydia pneumoniae Growth in Epithelial HEp-2 Cells

Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of South Florida College of Medicine, Tampa, Florida 33612,¹ Division of Molecular Microbiology, Department of Basic Laboratory Sciences, Osaka University School of Allied Health Sciences, Osaka 565-0871, Japan²

Received 23 December 2002/ Returned for modification 12 February 2003/ Accepted 13 March 2003

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) play an essential role in neurotransmission. Recent studies have indicated that nAChRs may be involved in the regulation of some bacterial infections through immunological mechanisms in macrophages. However, the regulation of infection with Chlamydia pneumoniae, which is a ubiquitous pneumonia-causing bacterium, by an nAChR-mediated mechanism is still unclear. In the present study, it was found that stimulation of nAChRs with ligands such as nicotine and acetylcholine altered the growth of C. pneumoniae in epithelial HEp-2 cells. Thus, the results revealed a possible pathophysiological role of nAChRs in the regulation of intracellular bacterial infection.

Editor: J. N. Weiser